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PHYSICAL EDUCATION

The PE department plays a huge role in academy life and students enjoy the subject immensely. We strive to provide our learners with the opportunity to learn and develop new practical skills and techniques across a broad range of activities. We also enable our learners to develop higher order thinking skills when analysing and evaluating performances or creating strategies and tactics to use in activities.

In PE lessons students get the chance to develop a wide range of personal life skills that are essential, not only in other subjects across the academy, but also for everyday life as young people to prepare themselves for their exams and to ready themselves for employment. Through PE students learn a variety of specific life skills and are signposted towards; self-motivation, self-management, integrity, collaboration, responsibility and communication. The students will gain knowledge of these life skills and are assessed in their application of them.

The PE curriculum is designed so that students are engaged in PE through a variety of different activities. NHS guidelines recommend that young people undertake physical exercise for an hour every day. It is part of our job as a PE department to provide a curriculum that motivates and supports students to live a sustainable, happy and healthy life by encouraging them to make healthy choices and equipping them with the knowledge and understanding to improve their health.

Throughout their OSCA PE experience students will become more competent, confident and expert in their skill techniques, and can apply them across different sports and physical activities. They will gain understanding of what makes a performance effective and how to apply these principles to their own and others’ work. We will assist them in developing the confidence and interest to get involved in exercise, sports and activities out of school and in later life, and in understanding and applying the long-term health benefits of physical activity.

Below is an overview of the curriculum offered to our students along with links that you can click on to access further information such as, specifications for exam courses, past papers and mark schemes.

KEY STAGE 3 core PE

Students at KS3 have 1x 2 hour lessons of PE a week. In this time they work through a range of activities; Football, Rugby, Basketball, Volleyball, Orienteering, Netball, Hockey, Trampolining, Fitness, Athletics, Cricket, Rounders, Softball and Tennis.

This range of activities allows them to learn and understand key aspects of the subject aiming to ensure that all students have the opportunity to:

Develop competence to excel in a broad range of physical activities

Be physically active for sustained periods of time

Lead healthy active lifestyles

Take part in outdoor and adventurous activities which present intellectual and physical challenges and be encouraged to work in a team, building on trust and developing skills to solve problems, either individually or as a group

Analyse their performances compared to previous ones and demonstrate improvement to achieve their personal best

Take part in competitive sports and activities outside school through community links or sports clubs.

Students continue to develop and extend their knowledge in a range of activities, however at this point, students have the opportunity to opt into a choice of activities that will engage them and enable them to maintain and promote healthy active lifestyles.

These are all designed to develop the key aspects taught at Key Stage 3 and give students the opportunity to live healthy active lifestyles whilst undertaking key life skills.

Through core PE students will gain an NCFE Health and Fitness vocational qualification. A PE qualification offers the students the chance to develop a wide range of highly desirable, transferable skills through practical means. The qualification is designed for students who are interested in aspects of health and such as; exercise, healthy lifestyles and diet. It supports the students to undertake a sustainable healthy lifestyle.

Students will know about the functions of the main body systems using different training techniques and methods and the importance of diet and nutrition. They will develop skills in preparing and planning a health and fitness plan, in carrying out fitness tests, in evaluating a health and fitness plan, and skills that are essential for the modern workplace, such as team work, presentation skills, independent working, working to deadlines and efficient use of resources.

The qualification content is designed to effectively engage and inspire students of all abilities to achieve.

Elite sport has embraced sport science disciplines wholeheartedly in the past few decades, moving from a perspective which assumed the primacy of natural talent in producing outstanding performance, to one which considers every minute detail of an athlete’s training programme, rest time, environment and psychology in the pursuit of excellence. The Cambridge Nationals in Sport Science offer learners the opportunity to study key areas of sport science including anatomy and physiology linked to fitness, health, injury and performance; the science of training and application of training principles, and psychology in sport and sports performance.

The qualification has been designed with practical and engaging ways of teaching in mind. Through four units; reducing the risks of sports injuries, applying the principles of training, sports nutrition and technology in sport, students: • develop a range of skills through involvement in sport and physical activity in different contexts and roles • develop their ability to apply theoretical knowledge to practical situations • gain a better understanding of the complexity of different areas of sport and the sports industry • increase their awareness of different ways to stay involved in sport and physical activity and of different careers and roles within sport.

The department offers a wide range of extra-curricular sporting opportunities for students who wish to extend the learning opportunities that are offered to them in curriculum time.

Clubs include; Football, Basketball, Rugby, Trampolining, Netball, Fitness, Gymnastics, Rounders, Athletics, Cricket, Softball and Tennis. Students are rewarded extrinsically for their attendance at the extra curricular clubs through entry into the PE prize draw. Every half term a £10 shopping voucher is won and every term an item of PE equipment is up for grabs. Regular fixtures are organised and played against local secondary schools in the area. Each year the students who take part in sports clubs have the chance to attend the department reward trip as a show of appreciation for their efforts.

At the end of each year, students get the chance to take part in and support the Academy’s Sports Day. This enjoyable event brings out fierce competition between the house teams, and is a great way for the students to be part of a whole school event that supports and encourages the three Olympic values; friendship, respect and excellence.